Article by
Barbados Today

Published on
April 24, 2014

Teachers at the Erdiston Teachers’ Training College may soon be back in the classroom. But they will not be abandoning their studies.

And Barbados Union of Teachers (BUT) president Pedro Shepherd is supporting the move, which would see the teachers going back to instructing students during the day and studying at Erdiston on evenings –– though under one condition.Pedro Shepherd
“Currently, we deliver the Certificate in Education Management and Administration during the day, and we also deliver the DipEd [Diploma in Education] during the day. It is a strain on the administration of Government because you have to replace those teachers who are out with others in the classroom,” he explained.
“[What they are proposing is] to move it towards evening programmes where teachers would be in the regular classroom during the day. I am hoping that those teachers would be able to leave at 2’o clock to get refreshed and so on, so that they can then go into the classroom in the evening.
“That is the compromise that I would like to see –– where they are not expected to teach until 3 p.m. and then reach Erdiston for four or 4:30.”
The move is part of changes to the curriculum and timetable at Erdiston under consideration.
Shepherd told Barbados TODAY that a few months ago, consultants from the firm Mind Bloom out of Nova Scotia, Canada, were in the island as part of the Ministry of Education’s attempt at reforming education on the island.
“They were looking at teacher training and so on, with a lot of emphasis being placed on Erdiston,” he said.
The BUT head declined to disclose the other changes, saying only that they were “not negative” and the union supported them.